In 2021, Duolingo had it all. #Interesante #BNBBreaksATH
Valued at over $10 billion.
Dominating the language learning market.
130 million monthly active users.
Its stock soared above $540.
Investors believed they had found the next big success in educational technology (EdTech).
But two decisions would turn this dream into a nightmare of over $5 billion.
The risky bet on AI
The CEO of Duolingo wanted to transform the platform overnight.
He cut thousands of contracts with humans and pushed for total automation with AI.
The promise? Faster, cheaper, and scalable learning.
The reality?
The quality of the courses plummeted.
Users complained that the lessons seemed mere tricks.
Loyal customers for life began to abandon the platform.
The data breach that no one forgot
In 2023, a database with 2.6 million user profiles was put up for sale on the dark web.
Emails and phone numbers were exposed. Trust was shattered.
The result?
The stock price fell nearly 40% from its peak.
User engagement stagnated for the first time in years.
Billions in market value evaporated.
Duolingo went from being "the future of education" to a cautionary tale, almost overnight.
